Move a OneNote notebook that you've shared with others

Before moving a shared notebook that other people may be using, minimize disruption by planning ahead and communicating to others in advance when you’ll be moving the notebook to a different location.

Consider moving notebooks only during times when you know that shared editing activity will be at a minimum. It’s also a good idea to first back up all of your files before you make significant changes, especially if you or others are in the middle of important work.

Step 1: Preparing to move

When you’re ready to move a shared notebook to a new location, do the following:

Create a new notebook (File > New) at the location where another notebook should be moved to.

Notify people with whom you’re sharing the old notebook that it is being moved, and that they should open the new notebook. You can do this in one of two ways:

In the original notebook, create a new section with a page containing the instructions (recommended).

Send them an email with the instructions.

In either case, include the URL of the new notebook and add some text on your page or in your email explaining why and where the notebook is being moved.

Step 2: Moving your notes

When you’re ready to move your notes from the old notebook to the new, do the following:

Make sure that you have both the old and new notebooks open, and then drag each notebook section from the old notebook over to the new.

If you previously created a section in the old notebook to tell others that the notebook was being moved, leave that section in the old notebook without moving it. That way, anyone who opens the old notebook after some time (for example, a work colleague returning from an extended vacation) will be able to see where the notes were moved.

Press Shift+F9 on your keyboard to manually sync all notebooks and wait for the synchronization to finish. When OneNote is done syncing the changes, everyone will see the new notebook structure when they next log into the new notebook.

Close the old notebook. Doing so doesn’t delete it, but it will prevent you from going back to it out of habit.